Traveling is a tedious but rewarding act. All the planning and decision-making that go with an impending journey surely cause a lot of stress and hesitations. However, endeavors like these provide us with both an impetus and challenge to go out of our comfort zone. After all, the world is filled with wonders and places that wait to be reached, discovered, and admired by curious amateur explorers like me and my close family friends, Dr. Cora Llarena and her brother Jun. Nothing is any farther from this travel statement than what the itinerant saint, Augustine of Hippo, once said, “The world is a great book; he who never stirs from home reads only a page.”

So it is against this background that my friends and I have embarked on our own without joining any advertised packaged tour. We started our journey on the last week of the hot summer month of July until the first two weeks of August to select places to visit in the beautiful country of Italy. I call this adventure a journey rather than a mere travel or trip simply because I wanted to know what could possibly come out of it. Other than enjoying the historical and cultural beauty of the different places, we also looked forward to appreciating educational and religious experiences.

Rome and the Vatican  

Our journey was more filled with religious intentions than absorbing historical or cultural events, although it ended up with a balanced mixture of both. So, where did we go? Where did we plan to go? How did we go from here to there? The glorious cities of Rome and the Vatican were our jumping point of reference. We were no different from most visitors to Italy who seem to always start in Rome. It was my first time to set foot in Italy. Rome and Vatican City certainly did not disappoint. Walking the vast cobbled stone paths of St. Peter’s Square, attending the Italian-Latin Gregorian Mass on a Sunday at St Peter’s Basilica, listening to Pope Francis’ regular high noon message to God’s people at the “piazza” and receiving his blessing, seeing the many and rare display of sacred items, statues, paintings, frescoes in the Vatican Museum, admiring Michelangelo’s paintings in the Sistine Chapel, being inside the ruins of the Roman Colosseum or just singing with the people the traditional Latin chants — all these holy realities took me back in awe to my early high school years at the Holy Rosary Minor Seminary where History and Religion subjects were heavily tilted to just knowing and studying almost everything about Rome and the Vatican. I could not contain the joy and wry smile on my face because my experience this time was real and not taught or classroom instructed.

Outside of Rome, the hilly city of Cascia was part of our planned itinerary. A two-hour bus ride from Tiburtina took us to the Basilica of the 12th century saint, St. Rita, the patroness of widows and women experiencing hopelessness and family difficulties. Her incorrupt body lies in an encased glass on the side chapel of the Basilica. We met Fr. Oswald, a Filipino Augustinian priest who was once assigned in Sorsogon but now a member of the basilica community. He took us down to the lower level of the basilica and showed us the “Eucharistic Miracle of the Host” turned blood that happened in Siena in the 15th century. The host is preserved in an encased glass at the altar of the lower chapel. From Cascia, we took a taxi to the nearby city of Spoleto, a city full of cultural wonders and artistic history.

St. Francis of Assisi

A journey like this would hardly be a journey if Assisi did not figure into our planned itinerary. Assisi, as we know, is synonymous with Francis, the 12th century mendicant saint and founder of the Order of Friar Minors (Franciscans). Assisi is a typical religious Italian town where one can always expect to inhale a breeze of sanctity. Outside the confines of the Basilica of St Francis that sits on hills, the St. Mary of the Angels Basilica holds inside the Portiuncula, the tiny chapel that St Francis started building after getting the visionary voice command from the Lord. The upper church of the Basilica of St. Francis is where most pilgrims trek to. The tomb of the saint is one of the most visited for prayer and veneration. In the lower church, at the Basilica di S. Chiara, the remains, relics and waxed figure of St. Clare of Assisi. the founder of the religious order known as the Poor Clares, are preserved and venerated. Likewise, the incorrupt body of the 21st century saint, Carlo Acutis, the teenager who documented stories of the Eucharist and Apparitions on the internet, is laid in a glass coffin for pilgrims to see. The coffin is displayed inside the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore.

Our experience in Assisi would be lacking without our short time meeting with the Franciscan Missionary Sisters of the Infant Jesus (FMIJ) inside their huge convent campus. A classmate of Dr. Cora in St Agnes Academy in Legazpi was a member of the community in Assisi for about six years. She has been recently reassigned in Quezon City. We met and talked with the gracious Mother Prioress, two other Italian sisters who spent long years in Batangas, and two new Filipina sisters from the Visayas.

Just to mention in passing, we found our days, riding speed trains to Milan (Milano), Naples (Napoli), to the nice eastern seaport city of Bari, Italy. Milan is the big, modern city of beauty and the arts. The huge, beautiful cathedral and its interior, the Duomo, is something to behold. Inside the cathedral are the remains of St Charles Borromeo, the one-time 15th century archbishop of Milan. Bari is an old city town known for its cathedral of St. Nicholas, the 5th century saint and Bishop of Myra, Turkey. He’s popularly associated with Santa Claus because of his generosity in giving gifts to people. His relic remains are preserved under the altar in the crypt of the basilica. We also found a gem of a church in Napoli, the Chiara di Nuovo Gesu, the Church of the New Jesus, a church administered by the Jesuits. Next to the Church of St Ignatius in Rome, this church has the most beautiful interior and arguably is the most beautiful church in Naples. While in Milan and Naples, we took side trips to Lake Como, Bellagio, the island of Capri, the historic old town of Alberobello and the city of Matera. These places have their own historical stories to tell thousands of summer visitors.

Where the Spirit of God Led Us

One of my expectations in this journey was to remain simply open to where the Spirit of God might lead us. We could plan where we wanted to go, but we knew the outcome might not be what we planned for. A case in point was our accidental stay in Benevento, rather than in Pietrelcina. Being close to Rome, Benevento is an ancient, laid-back city with heavy Roman roots and history. We discovered that the bones and relics of the Apostle Bartholomew, one of Jesus’ twelve apostles, are kept and preserved in a sacred urn under the altar of the Basilica. It was about 12:00 noon and the church was about to close when Paulo, the kind caretaker, approached and showed the three of us the Apostles’ relics, including the Apostle’s bronze bust with a relic of his heart that is kept in an adjacent room. Touching these relics of the Apostle who was one of Jesus’ lifetime companions was almost like touching a part of Jesus garment!

Back in Rome, an Italian friend of Dr. Cora and Jun drove us to the Abbey of Monte Cassino, the mountain place of the 6th century founder of the Benedictine Order (OSB), St. Benedict of Nurcia. It’s written in the Benedictine Rule that the huge Abbey is the place where Benedict lived with his followers and where he eventually died. His remains, together with his twin sister, St. Scholastica, rest in the upper altar of the Basilica. Oh, with a spice of trivia, the three of us who have very limited command of spoken Italian, went to confession before Mass to an abbot priest who also spoke almost no English.

The Mass was celebrated by the cardinal of the diocese. Whatever happened during and after reconciliation was, I know, purely God’s Spirit working in our hearts.

Our best days before leaving the country and Rome were perhaps saved for the last. From Monte Cassino, our Italian friend drove us to Ancient Rome (Roma Antica), an almost forgotten section that’s full of early Christian beginnings and where it is not as crowded with visitors unlike the Vatican Hill.

There is an oral tradition in the Church that during the time of persecutions of Christians by Emperor Nero in the first century, the followers of Jesus Christ were running away from Rome. Peter, frightened, was also running away when he met Jesus going to the opposite direction. Peter asked Him, “Quo vadis, Domine?” (Where are You going Lord?) to which the Lord answered that He was going back to Rome to be crucified again. Peter, having a change of heart, went the way of Jesus. On that spot where Peter encountered the Lord, at the crossroads of Via Appia Antica, a small church now stands, the Quo Vadis Domine Church. At the front of the altar is a slab of thick cobbled stone bearing the replica of Jesus’ foot imprint. The original stone is kept at the nearby Church of San Sebastian. Our final stop on that sunny, hot afternoon was at the magnificent Jesuit Church of Ignatius Loyola (Chiesa di S. Ignazio di Loyola). A joyful liturgy was in progress at the time but amidst the loud, noisy but sacred atmosphere inside the church, I found a quiet moment of prayer, singing in my heart the short “Suscipe” prayer of our brother saint, “Ignazio di Loyola”.

So, now here I am, back in Dallas, Texas, with Dr. Cora and Jun. As I reflect on our journey, or better yet, our pilgrimage last summer, the plan where to begin and what to expect in our journey may have been hazy, but I thought I should just have gone with the flow and be trusting. Had I imagined that I would see vision of the Lord along the way, I would not have been ready with an answer if He asked me, “Quo vadis, frater?”  For as the Servant Song goes, we are just “pilgrims on a journey, we are travelers on the road. We are here to serve each other, walk the mile and bear the load.”

Header image of St. Peter’s Basilica and Quo Vadis Domine Church paintings (photography: Jojo De Jesus)